MK: Two years after his return…

Recently the UK No.1 spot was taken by one of this year’s biggest club hits, a remix of ‘Look Right Through’ by Storm Queen. The producer of the remix was MK, real name Marc Kinchen, a house music veteran who has been enjoying something of a renaissance over the last two years.

In the Nineties Marc was responsible for some absolutely timeless house music, including his huge remix of Nightcrawlers – ‘Push The Feeling On’. Exactly two years ago I interviewed him for this very blog when he was just beginning his comeback so, in light of his success, I decided to call him for a quick catch up…

First of all, congratulations on your No.1…
Thank you, it’s not every day you get one of those!

It was interesting to watch the build-up and finally see you guys take the top spot. It must been a great day for you.
Yeah it was, just being in London when it happened… and not Cali, it wouldn’t have been the same if I’d have been here.

How did you celebrate?
I just hung out with some friends in London, went to a couple of bars and spent all night in the hotel room listening to music – there were 10 of us altogether. It feels great because, when I made that remix, I didn’t make it with the intention of releasing it. It wasn’t supposed to come out. I’d made two remixes already, I think one of them went to No.1 on Traxsource and maybe No.2 on Beatport. The third mix, ‘Dub III’, was one of the biggest tunes in my sets when I played it out, because nobody had really heard it before at the time, so people would be like, ‘Oh my God, what is this?!’. I could see the look on peoples’ faces every time I played it. Simon [Dunmore] saw me out play it out one night, and the drop comes in… the whole place loses it and he’s like, ‘Oh my God!’. So I told him, ‘Just put it out’. So we put it out on a compilation and the rest kinda happened…

I DJ as well and it’s definitely been my most requested song this year.
Really?! That’s crazy. I’m almost like, ‘Should I play it now?’ because it gets played so much. My own friends they’re like, ‘I turn over the radio station when that song comes on because I hear it so much’, I’m like, ‘Errrr… that’s not cool!’ People will say things like, ‘Well just don’t go commercial!’ – what are you talking about?! I want to make a song people like, and it stops there. Ok, it was so good that people liked it and it went Top 40… it’s always a weird one. A few weeks ago somebody said something about me ‘going commercial’, so I replied, ‘If you made a song, and then people liked it, the radio played it and it went to No.1. That’s bad?’.

I guess you’ve had tonnes of remix requests since the No.1?
Yeah, most of the labels want to sign me. But I’m not doing that until my album is done, I’m not signing to a label at all until that’s done. I’m working on two projects, one of them is going to be an MK album – I’m taking December and January off and I’m going to just make tracks for those two months. I’m about a third of the way through with it and aiming to have it done for early 2014.

Last time we spoke, exactly two years ago, you were on the comeback trail – it’s mad to think how much has happened since we did that interview.
Yeah, when I was getting back into it I was just hoping to make some cool songs and that’s it. I wasn’t expecting to be booked for all these big shows – I’m pinching myself every second.

How does it feel to have been adopted by a whole new generation, too? Most of the kids listening to you now probably weren’t even born the first time you were around.
I know, it’s crazy. Most of the people who come to see me are between 19 and 23, all young British kids that are into the music. It’s a really good feeling to play for them. At home I can walk around wherever but in London when I walk around, someone’s always like, ‘It’s MK! Can I take your picture?’ Everyone wants a picture!

What’s happening with Lee Foss and the gang?
We’re doing Pleasure States still, I’m working on that at the same as the MK album. It should be really cool, we have a couple of songs that are quite indie sounding. In case people don’t know, Pleasure States is me, Lee Foss and Anabel Englund. After we did ‘Electricity’ on Lee’s EP for Hot Creations we were like, ‘Let’s make a group and do stuff live’. So we decided to mix DJ sets with a live show. I’m going to be the main producer, Lee writes the lyrics – it’s us three in a room hammering it out. I think I’ll be playing keyboards live, I want to anyway, I love playing, so…

Are you still doing anything with Will Smith and Pitbull, like you were before?
No, they want to – but I have no interest in doing that. Zero.

Do you think you’ll ever go back to it or are you full-on house now?
I think I’m full-on house…